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With Donald Trump remaining consistent in his rhetoric about his desire to have better and more cooperative relations with Russia whilst continuing his verbal attacks on Iran, many have suspected that Russia, a strategic Iranian ally, might adopt the role of mediator in the dispute.

Recently, Sergei Lavrov corrected Trump in stating that Iran cannot be honestly described as a primary exporter of terrorism and that furthermore, Iran has played a crucial role in Syria in fighting ISIS. This is of course, true.

Now, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin has echoed the words of Russia’s Foreign Minister in saying that there are substantial difference between the US and Russian view on Iran.

Speaking about the frivolous US claims that Iran’s recent test of a ballistic missile on its own territory violated a resolution passed by the UN Security Council, Churkin said,

“This outcry about Iran’s ballistic missile launches. I was surprised to hear even American experts speaking on CNN and calling it a violation of bans by the UN Security Council. Those bans were there before, all those bans were lifted”.

He also admonished the US to re-think its policies towards countries like Iran in the following way,

“In international life, you have to differentiate between your emotions, what you want to see and what you have the right to expect from another country”.

I have never felt and still do not feel that the Trump administration will launch away against Iran. Instead the conflict will manifest itself through a combination of renewed sanctions, heated words, a possible pulling out of Obama’s Iran Deal and the continued proxy war against pro-Iranian forces in Iraq.

But be that as it may, Russia is clearly displeased with America’s downright childish rhetoric about Iran and also about policing the South China Sea.

In this sense, America having good relations with Russia could not only avert a war between nuclear superpowers, it could also help to bring calm to the Middle Eat.